While it didn’t come in a win, Celtics appreciative for fan presence at TD Garden

It was the first game with fans in the arena in over a year.

While their first game in front of hometown fans in more than a year might not have gone as they hoped it might have, the Boston Celtics still appreciated having those fans in the arena and the boost that it gave them.

In Monday night’s 115 – 109 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the crowd noise was clearly not of the artificial variety for a change.The attendees were  letting the referees know how they felt about some of the calls as is the tendency in TD Garden some nights while cheering some plays and jeering others in a scene that could have been a normal Celtics game if only you closed your eyes.

Plenty of seats were left open to ensure safe distances between the spectators, but they managed to make themselves feel larger than their otherwise-small numbers.